A presentation by Shraddhavan at Savitri Bhavan on May 30, 2009, the Centenary of Sri Aurobindo's Uttarpara Speech. After he was acquitted and released from a year's detention as an undertrial prisoner in the Alipore Bomb Case, Sri Aurobindo was invited to address a public gathering in his honour in the Calcutta suburb of Uttarpara. In his speech he gave a glimpse of the major spiritual experience which came to him during his imprisonment, the experience of the Cosmic Self - which he later characterised as the second of the four pillars of his Integral Yoga.

Vibha is an Associate Professor in the Electronics Department at the Sardar Patel University in Vallabh Vidyanagar, Gujarat, one of the increasing number of Universities where Sri Aurobindo's writings and vision can be studied. For her Doctoral Thesis, Vibha has been on sabbatical leave in Pondicherry as a Research Scholar with Sri Aurobindo's Action, under guidance of Kireet Joshi. She has spent a few days at Savitri Bhavan also. Before returning to Gujarat she shared her findings with Aurovilians.

Femme rayonnante au grand cœur, Véronique Jannot choisit résolument le bonheur: sourire en toutes circonstances est sa manière à elle de nourrir cette "graine d'éveil présente en chacun de nous,” et de transformer les épreuves, tremplins d'évolution. Profondément engagée pour la cause tibétaine, elle écrit et réalise seule son premier documentaire consacrée à ce principe féminin intangible et puissant, que les tibétains appelle « Dakini ». Pour sa seconde visite à Auroville, elle est donc venue présenter « DAKINIS, le féminin de la sagesse »: une série de portraits de femmes extraordinaires d'orient et d'occident. L'occasion de la rencontrer à son hôtel et de l'interroger sur la création de son film, le rôle de la femme aujourd'hui, sa perception d' Auroville et sur son chemin personnel vers une spiritualité libre et vivante....Interview illustré par la musique du documentaire.

Prema Nanakumar started her session by poem Presence which she dedicated to the Divine presence in all of us, and which is in-avoidable force of mutation. Trough the comparison with past, and text as Savitri and Ramayana she wanted to pond on the positive side of changes and transformations. She formulated it in idea - there's nothing that is really new under the sun, but there is also nothing that is repeated under the sun. Smilingly she added that elder know that the future is always better than the past, and presented the example of history one hundred years ago. Read more

Dear Women, Girls of Auroville and all around the globe - Happy Women's Day! Exactly 100 years ago Suffragettes campaigned for women's right to vote, and since then that day is celebrated all over in bigger or lesser degree to that extend that some countries have a public holiday on that day. Here in Auroville we will celebrate it by dr. Tatiana, a gynecologist, who joined Kailash Clinic Team. She's offering her service from today onward on Tuesdays and Saturdays afternoon between 2 to 5 pm at Kailash Clinic. AVHS with Women's Safety Task Force will organize "Take Back the Nights” candlelit march for human rights to live, work and move in peace at all times.

In this interview we meet Shambo, a practitioner of Sivanandra and Kriya yoga, who is also an instructor here in Auroville. He shares his insights on living in the world today, and his hopes for the transformation of the future. "It is possible” he says for the world to reach this higher consciousness. We talk about yoga and how it is a part of every waking moment of his life. He's a great example of how yoga can transform your life into something more, something that is not just limited to this lifetime. Read more

Amongst other talks at Mutation II was also Joss presentation of enormous project in Chennai on the banks of Adyar Poonga. Huge work of Joss and many Aurovilians there for last four years was completed just a month ago. It is tremendous transformation of something that used to be a sewer back to river, by sunlit paths next to it. With their work they didn't only expressed lots of creativity but it was also a journey in relation to water which we insulted and degraded that we got sewers instead of rivers. And as Joss mentioned they couldn't have done it if Auroville with what is stands for, wouldn't be behind it... if there wouldn't be an experience of transformation in reality. To download the presentation as pdf click here.

In an interesting and thorough presentation by Wolfgang we heard about the tools of Hladina method to discover layers of the heart in order to Align one's soul with the soul of the nation. Layers of the heart is process which leads to effective body-anchored spiritual revelations, which gives direct body sensation and internal vision of personal-emotional heart center, the psychic being and the transpersonal Divine or "the vastness”(experienced behind the physical heart). Wolfgang on the holistic way explained the evolution of the humankind, and evolution of consciousness with it from the mineral to the man. After he continued by evolution of nations from physical body, trough vital to mental, in order to develop awakening to psychic being or supra-national unions, a real human unity. Presentation was followed by three days workshop Aligning One's Soul with the Soul of your Nation, in order to help fostering development of pavilions at International Zone. Read more

In Conference Room at Town Hall this afternoon at 5pm will be introduction program for the Aligning One's Soul with the Soul of your Nation experiential workshop of International Zone, which will take place throughout the whole weekend at Pavilion of Tibetan Culture. Samarthyam Workshop on Access Awareness and Sensitization is going on also at Conference Room in Town Hall for two days. At Well Caffee in Svedam tomorrow and on Saturday they will dedicate their "Art Event” for the Hibiscus Art Village project. Read more

Ladislav Brozman, a well-known musician and violinist from Sri Aurobindo Ashram prepared violin recital at Savitri Bhavan. The repertoir was consisted of Johann Sebastian Bach (Solo sonata in C Major BWV 1005, Adagio, Fuga, Largo, and Allegro assai) and Eugene Ysaye (Sonata Nr. 1 Op.27 in g minor, Grave, Fugato, Allegretto poco scherzoso and Finale con brio) pieces. The acoustic of Savitri Bhavan served the excellent violinists, who is also a teacher of musicology at University of Human Unity, well. An unique event for lovers of classical European music.

At Ramayana Festival in Adhishakti we had a rare opportunity to hear also Manganiar Singers, Manganiars as a professional musician community depend almost entirely on the income derived from their singing within a larger patronage system. In the Manganirar repertoire, the Ram bhajans are generally sung for patrons on the occasion of a marriage or for other ritual occasions. Most of their patrons are Hindu, notably from the Rajput community, even thought they have Muslim patrons as well. Read more

At Ramayana Festival in Adishakti on the evening of Ram bhajans they tried to bring together Manganiar and Meghwal singers, originated both from Rajasthan and they interpreted musically Ram bhajans differently. Bhajans are rarely sung on the modern stage and have been relatively neglected. In the Manganiar repertoire are generally sung for patrons on the occasion of a marriage or for other ritual occasions. Megeasl and Maganiars ted to sing bhajans during the ratijaga or night-long ritual singing of devotional songs, in addition to other traditions like the olakhs, which are sung in praise of deities. Read more

Woven like dreams, images, reflections, music that evokes memories... Holger, Matt, Max ZT, Leonard and Jean gave us a special present during this week of celebrations. It happens to be that at the same time it's also Holger's 20th anniversary of his arrival in Auroville. Out of many pictures taken by Leonard, Holger and Giorgio, a stroll , a promenade was created accompanied by abstract images, telling a story, a vision we never knew, although known to us within. Melodies, accompanied by distorted singing of the mantra, carried us further than the images themselves. Like a long forgotten memory, or a flash back of something that might be there, so palpable but not really within our reach. Read more

Under the expert guidance of director Eugeen Liven d'Abelardo Auroville Renaissance Cappella treat us again with an excellent concert, for which they have worked for quite some times - some songs took them two years. We could hear some Italian Renaissance madrigals and some motets by Flemish composers at courts and cathedrals in Italy. Director kindly explained the history and meaning of songs. Read more

Focused chanting and meditation at Pavilion of Tibetan Culture on Sunday was lead by Khenpo Lodro Donyo Rinpoche. Meditation was dedicated to Chenrezig who is renowned as the embodiment of the compassion of all the Buddhas, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, and who is also known to remove sufferings, confusion and appears for benefit for freedom from faults. At the end Khenpo Lodro Donyo Rinpoche gave for the library of Pavilion of Tibetan Culture his book, which has many things related to Tara - story of the origins(she came into existence from a single tear shed by Chenrezig ), how she becomes liberated, how she benefits beings now. In the book are also explanations of the prayers for Tara, and some other prayers. Read more

Stupas are very holy, precious and important, said Khenpo Lodro Donyo Rinpoche on his short, but interesting talk at Pavilion of Tibetan Culture. For Tibetan people it is hard to differentiate culture and religion, and we can find stupas wherever we go, where Buddhism was introduced. Purpose of stupa is to offer a support to recall the enlighten body, speech and mind of Buddha. All the immesurable qualities of Buddha - loving kindness, compassion, joy and impartiality are contained in the form of the stupa. Read more

In January 1908 Sri Aurobindo had his first major spiritual experience, which he sometimes referred to as his ‘Nirvana' experience. To mark the Centenary of this event, Shraddhavan gave a talk at Savitri Bhavan, sharing some of Sri Aurobindo's statements about his experience, and connecting them with some remarks of the Mother about Thought Control and some passages in Savitri. Since Sri Aurobindo stated "One cannot be a fully developed mental being if one has not a control of the thoughts ...” these words have a practical application for all of us.

It started before dawn...and to see the sunrise, dew on tree leaves, feel the sand and grass under the feet, was a blessing...the high spirits of people who supported runners all the way, with taunts as well as with water and medical assistance, was contagious...it gave them reason to do their best, run the best they could...morning cold was soon warmed up by sun, and the cheerful spirit of participants, slowly finishing the distance they had chosen to run. We'll be back for sure next year...all said! Read more

Beauty in movement, and cleansing fire...simply magic. After many years, the fire family treated us to a beautiful performance of excellent choreography: Kalou and Aurevan accompanied by world music with fire and LED lights. All the performers were children, the youngest was only six. The Visitors' Centre was crowded, and the audience followed the performance with enthusiasm, sometimes holding their breath, to burst into big applause after the crucial moments...and in acts with fire, simply mesmerized by the power of it. Read more

We all love them...the music and lyrics of Emergence. The last concert at Sri Aurobindo Auditorium in Bharat Nivas, the Pavilion of Indian Culture was somehow different. More serious, deeper in musical expression, a play, an investigation of musicians who knows each other well, and although so different, finding the common "word” in a given moments. Yes, Emergence is a fusion of poetic rock, Carnatic music, and at times funky jazz, with intimate lyrics from Krishna's love and life. Read more

On the occasion of Mother's birthday at Savitri Bhavan there will be an open exhibition on Mother's experiences and thoughts on Supramental transformation. In an interview with Loretta, who created the whole exhibition, we talked about it. In her exhibitions, she tries to recapture the spirit that used to be at the Ashram, when Mother was still in her body. This year we will see pictures of Mother after her major experiences, and some of her intimate belongings, which the Ashram Museum kindly offered for this occasion.

The last evolution in our cultural cyber-space shown us that something is happening and our technologies are just following our dreams and visions. From the last 30 years, an international network is on progress, internet is just the first stone of an integral structure that will show up his face. By going from personal computer (PC) to cloud computing, a new dimension of calculation is now open to everybody, everywhere. The next step in this evolution is cloud computing, a super computer shared by all, the "one" is on the way like an international library of knowledge and experience... but for what purpose? maybe to access a complete overview of our very limited mental world and to offer a way to go beyond. Read more

In a short interview with some Living Routes students and volunteers from USA, Andi found out a few things. They were all exposed to some new ideas, met many different people from all over the world, tried new techniques on themselves - like awareness through the body or meditation. But as one of the students emphasized, she admires most the strength of the community to follow the common goal, although they all come from different backgrounds, different cultures... www.livingroutes.org/programs/p_auroville.htm

At the 3rd interactive workshop at Mutation II on Clearing - talks on supramental transformation is in progress, Dr. Bahman A.K. Shirazi, of the California Institute of Integral Studies started with the topic of Bridging the Arc of Mysticism. If the Supermind is fully brought down to matter and stabilized, the Arc of Mysticism will be finally bridged. In physics of 21st century many changes took place, and the conception of matter and energy in terms of the electromagnetic spectrum it has a new view. The workshop was truly interactive, and participants highly involved in the most interesting topic. Read more

Larry Old School came in the shape of a soft intermezzo. Paul and Larry, on two acoustic guitars. Larry's voice, slightly hoarse, resembled Bob Dylan's. They brought back some almost forgotten memories of songs; music we heard long ago. But listening closely to the lyrics, they might be as fresh and "in time” as they were in the early sixties, when it all started. Read more

Since the whole Lively Up Your Earth eco - music festival, first of the kind, was a Solitude Farm community idea and project, and Krishna, the founder of it, and the front man of Emergence Music, audience was thrilled when they were finally announced on the stage. That it was necessary to put lots of energy to prepare and run the festival smoothly, was shown on Krishna voice, but people greeted him warmly nevertheless.

Matthew Littlewood on saxophones, Mishko M'Ba on bass and Suresh Bascara brought some high energies on the stage with jazz standards. At the end Steve Zerlin, a well know bass player from USA joined them. The audience could hardly have asked for a better jam session! Read more

On January 20, 2011, started a series of five talks on some of the Mother's major experiences in Her work of transformation. Loretta wants to simplify things for people who are on the journey of Sri Aurobindo's Yoga. Along with her explanations, she brings Mother's Presence by translating and playing recordings of Mother telling of these experiences, and telling stories about Ashram life when Mother was here. Loretta was asked if she thought Mother finished Her work before She left the body. As part of her answer, Loretta relates her own experience standing alone in the Ashram Meditation Room with Mother's body in the early morning. Read more

« L'instant Juste » présentée par Patrick Colin dirigeant d'entreprise, coach et concepteur de la méthode « l'instant juste », il transmet depuis 6 ans son expérience vécue de «L'Instant Juste», en entreprise, à des sportifs. Un processus simple pour prendre conscience du moment présent, libérer nos pensées, peurs, croyances, et culpabilités... Oser agir au lieu de réagir et exprimer des possibilités infinies caches en nous ! Tout est à l'intérieur de nous, ... la première grande entreprise de la vie c'est soi-même. Read more

Since she landed in Auroville four years back, Irene has changed. She grow as a human being, as a woman, as a personalty...And even after her hard work of last month, which she felt as a fast running train, she is calm, confident, and with the sparks in her eyes, where you can read, that her energy and serenity is almost without limits. Dance to her is a practice, a tool, is an investigation about life, herself, human begins, dynamics, relationships, and also places of consciousness. As she claims, dance was given to her, and she stands with open hands, always sharing...When she started consciously searching for Irene, dance and art manifested at the same time. With Auroville she nurse deep connection, and to her is a beautiful, precious place with it's own complexity. Read more